Non-Fiction

Title: Love at First Flight
Author: Captain W. Stewart (Bud) Orr USN (Ret.) and Fran E. Orr
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Hodge Wood
ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1938231538

Love at First Flight is the memoir of by two outstanding Americans: a courageous naval pilot, Bud Orr, whose career spanned twenty-seven years, and his loving wife, Fran. This volume is an honest, beautifully crafted story of Bud and Fran's inspiring relationship, a testament to their deep love and service to their country. It is a page-turning account of a sterling military career, complete with adrenaline-filled descriptions of a daring pilot flying many dangerous missions in advanced warplanes. Love at First Flight is a powerful reminder about the real sacrifices that men and women in the Armed Services must make to preserve a relationship, and the incredible rewards that come with that sacrifice. Like a catapult launch off an aircraft carrier, Bud and Fran's story will propel readers through recent history—from the Vietnam War to current day America. A tender, moving, and inspiring volume, Love at First Flight is the perfect gift for any military member, military family, or military historian.

Title: I'll be in the Fourth Grade Forever
Author: Maria Ruiz
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Barbara Peacock

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1475041748

A memoir of years from 1942 to 1953 as seen by a young girl who was transported from California to war torn Europe to Kansas with her army officer father.

Title: Eyes Right
Author: Tracy Crow
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Bob Doerr

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): B007IPQ4XC

Just out of high school in 1977, her personal life already a mess,
Tracy Crow thought the Marines might straighten her out. And sure enough, in
the Corps she became a respected public affairs officer and military
journalist—one day covering tank maneuvers or beach assaults, the next
interviewing the secretary of the navy. But success didn’t come without a
price.
When Crow pledged herself to God, Corps, and Country, women Marines were
still a rarity, and gender inequality and harassment were rampant. Determined
to prove she belonged, Crow always put her career first—even when, after
two miscarriages and a stillborn child, her marriage to another Marine
officer began to deteriorate. And when her affair with a prominent general
was exposed—and both were threatened with court-martial—Crow was forced
to re-evaluate her loyalty to the Marines, her career, and her family.

Eyes Right is Crow’s story. A clear-eyed self-portrait of a troubled teen
bootstrapping her way out of a world of alcoholism and domestic violence, it
is also a rare inside look at the Marines from a woman’s perspective. Her
memoir, which includes two Pushcart Prize–nominated essays, evokes the
challenges of being a woman and a Marine with immediacy and clarity, and in
the process reveals how much Crow’s generation did for today’s military
women, and at what cost.

Title: Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff
Author: Cathryn Prince
Genre: History
Reviewer: Dick Geschke.

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 023034156X

The worst maritime disaster ever occurred during World War II, when more than 9,000 German civilians drowned. It went unreported.

January 1945: The outcome of World War II has been determined. The Third Reich is in free fall as the Russians close in from the east. Berlin plans an eleventh-hour exodus for the German civilians trapped in the Red Army’s way. More than 10,000 women, children, sick, and elderly pack aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a former cruise ship. Soon after the ship leaves port and the passengers sigh in relief, three Soviet torpedoes strike it, inflicting catastrophic damage and throwing passengers into the frozen waters of the Baltic.

More than 9,400 perished in the night—six times the number lost on the Titanic. Yet as the Cold War started no one wanted to acknowledge the sinking. Drawing on interviews with survivors, as well as the letters and diaries of those who perished, award-wining author Cathryn Prince reconstructs this forgotten moment in history. She weaves these personal narratives into a broader story, finally giving this WWII tragedy its rightful remembrance.

Title: Blackhorse Riders
Author: Philip Keith
Genre: History
Reviewer: John Monteith

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0312681925

Philip Keith's Blackhorse Riders is the incredible true story of a brave military unit in Vietnam that risked everything to rescue an outnumbered troop under heavy fire—and the thirty-nine-year odyssey to recognize their bravery.

Deep in the jungles of Vietnam, Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry, the famed Blackhorse Regiment, was a specialized cavalry outfit equipped with tanks and armored assault vehicles. On the morning of March 26, 1970, they began hearing radio calls from an infantry unit four kilometers away that had stumbled into a hidden North Vietnamese Army stronghold. Outnumbered at least six to one, the ninety-man American company was quickly surrounded, pinned down, and fighting for its existence. Helicopters could not penetrate the dense jungle, and artillery and air support could not be targeted effectively. The company was fated to be worn down and eventually all killed or captured.

Overhearing the calls for help on his radio, Captain John Poindexter, Alpha Troop’s twenty-five-year-old commander, realized that his outfit was the only hope for the trapped company. It just might be possible that they could “bust” enough jungle by nightfall to reach them. Not making the attempt was deemed unacceptable, so he ordered his men to “saddle up.” With the courage and determination that makes legends out of ordinary men, they effected a daring rescue and fought a pitched battle—at considerable cost. Many brave deeds were done that day and Captain Poindexter tried to make sure his men were recognized for their actions.

Thirty years later Poindexter was made aware that his award recommendations and even the records of the battle had somehow gone missing. Thus began the second phase of this remarkable story: a “battle” to ensure that his brave men’s accomplishments would never be forgotten again.

The full circle was completed when President Obama stepped to the podium on October 20, 2009, to award the Alpha Troop with the Presidential Unit Citation: the highest combat award that can be given to a military unit.